Quote:
Originally Posted by jray3
I have done four 200+ mile trips with an aircooled pusher, and a friend has done several 1000+ mile trips with his. They work until you overheat the old VW engine.
Explained: Mitsubishi i-MiEV With JB Straubel's Extended Range Pusher Trailer
Of course fuel economy is better with a factory-built hybrid on those long road trips, but the average Wh/mile and mpg are far ahead considering that of my now 84,000 i-MiEV miles, about 1000 were done with an engine running. Unlike plug-in hybrid drivers with similar statistics. I wasn't dragging an unneeded engine around for the other 83,000 miles.  |
And that's exactly why a pusher makes sense. I see the number "95%" pop up a lot in reference to limited range EV's. That is, the range of your average affordable EV is more than enough for 95% of trips that 95% of the population do. And that goes for me too. Most days I drive 30 miles or less.
Today I went over 60 miles and on only a 75% charge. Apparently pre-warming the cabin with a 120V trickle charger doesn't keep the charge up a the heater works. Anyhow, I got a little nervous since I had to climb about 2,000ft to my destination and didn't have any way of plugging in and had only 24 miles left to get back to home 30 miles away. But when I got back to town the gauge just hit the first of the two red bars and said I had 20 miles left. (I can see why they call it a "guess-o-meter". I did 30 miles with 4 miles of predicted range going 50 to 55mph!)
So the car does work for where I live for my daily routine (this was an unexpected trip and it did ok.) I think I'm going to make sure it's charged up better for those just-in-case scenarios. I also need to get that level 2 EVSE installed ASAP.
But still, although this car is the most practical car I've had for just around town. Those unexpected trips to places nearby, as well as those long trips I have to do once in a while would make a range extender quite handy. It's either that or rent an ICE car.